Terms and Conditions
These terms govern access to and use of The Spark Unfolding Book Club website, member portal, digital library, Spark Commons, private organization groups, Convergence Q45 participant and alumni community, reading journeys, journals, original books, resources, gatherings, integrations, software, visual presentation, and related services operated by Dr. Brown Cares LLC. A participant accepts these terms through the acknowledgment presented with the cookie and privacy choices, organization or group application, invitation claim, and continued access or use.
Educational and reflective scope
The experience offers literary, educational, creative, and reflective resources. Participants remain responsible for their own choices, wellbeing, interpretations, and use of the materials. Urgent medical, mental-health, legal, financial, or safety concerns should be directed to an appropriately qualified professional or emergency resource.
Accounts, access, and personal use
Member credentials and portal access are personal. Digital books, companion journals, downloads, and other original materials are licensed for the individual participant’s personal, noncommercial use unless a separate written license states otherwise. Copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property rights remain with their respective owners.
Ownership and limited license
The site and its protectable elements, including original books, manuscripts, chapters, prompts, journals, curricula, community structures, graphics, photographs, generated visual assets, audio or video materials, page copy, compilations, databases, source code, object code, interfaces, workflows, taxonomies, selection and arrangement, brand presentation, and documentation, are owned by or licensed to The Spark Unfolding Book Club and its rights holders. Subject to these terms, each participant receives a limited, personal, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to access the experience for its intended individual reading, reflection, and community purposes.
Protected use restrictions
A participant may not, directly or through another person, organization, automated system, or artificial-intelligence system:
- copy, reproduce, republish, distribute, sell, sublicense, rent, lease, transfer, publicly display, publicly perform, or commercially exploit the site or any substantial part of its protected content;
- create, offer, commission, promote, or support a competing or substantially similar book-club platform, digital library, messaging community, reading journey, companion-journal system, coaching transition experience, membership program, or commercial service by using, adapting, translating, transforming, imitating, or deriving from protected site materials, confidential methods, code, interfaces, visual presentation, workflows, or compilations;
- reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, decode, translate, inspect, probe, reconstruct, discover, or attempt to discover source code, object code, algorithms, data structures, database structures, prompts, system instructions, security controls, authentication methods, technical design, or underlying components, except to the limited extent a restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law;
- scrape, crawl, spider, harvest, index, mirror, frame, download in bulk, capture systematically, or use automated means to extract content, member information, messages, metadata, training material, or site structure;
- use site content, data, messages, prompts, books, visuals, or outputs to train, fine-tune, benchmark, evaluate, seed, enrich, or operate an artificial-intelligence or machine-learning model, dataset, product, or service without prior written permission;
- circumvent, disable, interfere with, test, or defeat access controls, rate limits, portal protections, consent controls, technical restrictions, security features, or usage-monitoring measures;
- remove, conceal, alter, or falsify copyright, trademark, authorship, attribution, confidentiality, provenance, digital-rights, or proprietary notices;
- use the site, its protected expression, or its brand presentation in a manner likely to suggest sponsorship, affiliation, endorsement, origin, or authorization; or
- share credentials, grant unauthorized portal access, collect information about other members, or use community content outside the permissions given by its contributor.
Independent work and written licensing
General ideas, reading practices, and methods that applicable law leaves free for independent use remain available for lawful independent creation. Any independent work must arise from the creator’s own materials, code, research, visual identity, wording, structure, and implementation, without access to or use of protected site expression, confidential information, restricted technical elements, member content, or proprietary compilations. A broader use may be requested through a separate written license signed by an authorized rights holder.
Protection of the community and platform
Suspected infringement, unauthorized replication, scraping, credential sharing, circumvention, reverse engineering, or misuse may result in immediate suspension or termination of access, preservation of relevant records, removal of affected material, notice to service providers, and pursuit of available contractual, equitable, statutory, and other remedies. The participant agrees to cooperate with reasonable steps required to protect member privacy, platform security, and intellectual-property rights.
Community participation
Participants agree to engage with dignity, respect boundaries, preserve the confidentiality of community disclosures, refrain from harassment or unlawful conduct, and seek consent before offering personal advice. Organization administrators, leaders, and moderators agree to use their permissions solely for their assigned adult group, apply the Community Guidelines consistently, protect invitation codes and member information, document moderation through the provided controls, and escalate platform concerns to authorized Book Club administration. Access may be limited or ended when conduct threatens the wellbeing, privacy, security, or integrity of the community.
Organization applications and private groups
An organization application must be submitted by an authorized adult representative and must accurately identify the proposed administrator, leader, moderator, adult audience, purpose, and expected membership. Approval remains within the discretion of Dr. Brown Cares LLC. Approval grants access to a private section and designated group controls; it creates no partnership, agency, joint venture, franchise, fiduciary relationship, ownership interest, endorsement, or authority to bind Dr. Brown Cares LLC. Each organization remains responsible for its own internal authority, leadership decisions, participant relationships, meetings, statements, and conduct.
Invitations and workshop verification
Invitation codes are personal or group limited, revocable, time limited, and governed by the role and eligibility assigned to them. Email bound codes may be claimed only through the corresponding signed in account. Convergence Q45 workshop registration may establish pending eligibility through a signed integration event. Registration, code claim, program status, cancellation, completion, and alumni transition may be recorded and reviewed to administer participation. A code, registration, or complimentary benefit carries no cash value and may not be sold, assigned, pledged, or transferred.
Participant contributions
Participants retain rights they hold in original contributions. By posting within a private group, a participant grants Dr. Brown Cares LLC a limited, nonexclusive license to host, reproduce, display, transmit, moderate, preserve, and technically process that contribution for operation, security, reporting, legal compliance, and delivery of the selected group experience. Publicity, testimonial use, recordings, photographs, quotations, and external publication require separate appropriate permission. Participants must hold the rights and permissions needed for anything they submit.
Dispute resolution sequence
Every dispute resolution stage is confidential and may be conducted asynchronously, remotely, and virtually. Participation may occur through secure written exchanges, telephone, videoconference, electronic document submission, or another mutually workable remote method.
- Good faith negotiation. A party will provide written notice describing the dispute and requested resolution. The parties will first attempt to resolve the matter through confidential good faith negotiation. Written exchanges may proceed asynchronously and remotely.
- Mediation. A dispute remaining unresolved after negotiation will proceed to confidential mediation with a mutually selected neutral mediator. Mediation may occur remotely or virtually, including through asynchronous written submissions when accepted by the mediator and parties.
- Binding arbitration. A dispute remaining unresolved after mediation will be resolved through confidential binding arbitration before one neutral arbitrator. The arbitration may be administered remotely or virtually and may include asynchronous written submissions, electronic evidence, telephone participation, and videoconference proceedings.
The parties will share mediator and arbitrator fees equally unless applicable law or the neutral decision-maker requires another allocation. Each party will bear its own professional fees and costs unless an award or applicable law provides otherwise.
Governing law; court and jury waiver
Wyoming law governs these terms, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the parties waive resolution through a court trial and waive trial by jury. A court with lawful authority may be used solely to compel arbitration, enforce an arbitration award, or obtain temporary emergency relief that preserves the ability of arbitration to provide an effective remedy. Any such proceeding will be handled confidentially to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Individual proceedings
Disputes will proceed on an individual basis. Each party waives participation as a plaintiff or class member in a class, collective, consolidated, coordinated, or representative action to the fullest extent permitted by law.
Severability and updates
If a provision is found unenforceable, it will be narrowed to the minimum extent necessary, and the remaining terms will continue in effect. Material updates will be identified through a revised effective date. Continued use following an update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.